Believe it or not, the amount of time that you rest between sets has an effect on your training results.
Here are my recommendations for how long you should rest between sets based on the following THREE goals…
- If you want increased muscular endurance or want the benefits of increased metabolic or circuit type training…You should rest 20-60 seconds between sets. If the exercise being performed is more demanding on the body you should rest closer to the 60 sec range. If it’s less demanding it’s OK to rest more towards the 20sec range. TYPICALLY THESE REST RANGES ARE FOLLOWED BY THOSE IN SOME TYPE OF CARDIO EXERCISE LOOKING TO LOSE WEIGHT AND BURN FAT.
- If you want to Increase Strength and Maximize Muscular Power (Bodybuilding) you should rest 2-4 minutes between sets. Again the more demanding the exercise the more you should stay towards the higher end of the 2-4 minute rest range. The less demanding the exercise the more you should stay towards the lower end of the 2-4 minute rest range. TYPICALLY THESE REST RANGES ARE UTILIZED BY THOSE LOOKING TO BUILD MUSCLE & STRENGTH AS WELL AS EXPLOSIVE POWER.
- For Getting “Toned,” and Building A Little Muscle and Improving How Your Body Looks…Resting 1-3 minutes between sets is probably best for you. The more intense an exercise is the more you should stay closer to the 2-3 minute rest range. The less demanding the exercise is the more you should stay in the 1-2 minute rest range. TYPICALLY THESE REST RANGES ARE UTILIZED BY THOSE LOOKING TO TONE AND BUILD MUSCLE WHILE TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT.
How Long Should I Rest Between Exercises?
You should rest about as long as you rested between sets of the previous exercise, which means if you rested 2 minutes between sets of your first exercise you should rest about 2 minutes before doing your first set of your NEXT exercise.
But I’m not strict when it comes to rest times between exercises, because sometimes you just need a little more time to recover from that last set of the previous exercise as well as time to actually get ready and set up for your next exercise.